National Republican., 1887-03-25
The Crime OF the Treasury Hoard,

EDIToR NATIONAL REPUBLICAN,: : II is a mat
ter of common knowledge that a large sum OF
money lies useless in the treasury Of the United
States-the result of increased income from a
system of taxation long outgrown. 1t is also
generally admitted that this locking up OF
money Is bad policy and source Of loss and
annoyance to the people. Few, however, re-
alize the full extent of its evil consequences.
Fewer still suspect that the boarding Is a
deliberate conspiracy on the part of n few
we'll organized and crafty men to make money
scarce and prices low that they may enrich
themselves by the ruin OF their country.
Money is the legal instrument of exchange.
Its legal unit is the 'dollar." This dollar is a
tool 10 do exchanging Just as a wagon. or
steamboat, or railroad car is a tool Of trans
necessary to do the exchanging lust as n GER
tain number OF wagons, cars, and boats are
needed to do the transporting OF gtois.
The instruments that, perform these two
sential to the prosperity OF the people,
Suppose. now, the government should occa-
siohally send out armed men aud seize one,
sSps h and E5 az dosOs as tSs ESsS1n wsn em ana
barrassment. and suffering would result.
Follow out this aud let the world grasp the
full extent Of its evil potency. Then realize
what is strictly true, that the act is of the
same nature and its consequence even moro
enormous, when the government takes money
tbe tool of exchange) from circulation aud
seess aSSas II USssd Ssd IS ny ha pU~cs 1T
the fruitful seed of business prosperity, and
rendered as inert and useless as If II were
thrown into the ocean.
The dynamics of the subject, so to speak, arc
rarely studied. u is money in action that we
must considerable dollar on its way from
hand to hand, enabling civilized men to ex.
SueRy lis value % isno SeS IN the stu T thst u L /
made OF, but In the service that 1t performs
10 hoard 1t is to destroy its power Of service.
II all the money were destroyed and its use
interdioted. we should, be remanded to the
rude barter of savage life. Business would be
destroyed, and incalculsble suffering would
follow. But II part Of the money is taker
from circulation corresponding extent Of
damage Is done.
Only about per cent. Of money Is used upon
an average in transacting the exchanges oi
this country. One dollar In money does twenty
dollars worth of business. But that dollal
must be present and available, or the transac
tions cannot be effected. 1t Is the strong pilla
that upholds twenty times Its own weight
Now there are two hundred millions Of thu
money OF this nation lying idle In the treas
four billions. That four billions represents tn,
amount of business transactions prevented
the volume OF enterprise s,rangled the humal
ness Of millions blighted by robbing grea
| people of the means of exchange. That fou
| billions measures only feebly the distress, dis
c0uTagemCnt, bankruptcy and ruin caused b.
| the wicked board in the federal treasury.
IL represents comforts taken from every fam
| lily, the small savings by which the working
| man hoped TO buy a humble home-the small
| beginnings of millions of workingmen ruth
| lessly snatched away to swell the useless hoard
IL accounts for the unemployed labor, tn
commercial stagnation the industrial paral
| ysis, now become chronic, with all Its loss
| misery, pauperism. and crime.
| All This for whnp
Simply to enable the class ofspeculators VIII
| want low prices to corner the money market
| That is the motive of the sharp managers o
| the federal finances. Mr.. Cleveland Is no
morally guilty, nor IL poor Dan. Manning; bot
| are as innocent Of financial knowledge rs
new born babe. They arc pitiful exhibitions {
financial Incompetence, used, as they are, b
/ the cutthroats of Wall street to compass tn
| robbery and ruin of the people. But they ar
| the unwilling instruments of great crime, a
the same, and they must be held as ilagrantl
| guilty of misgovernment.
| Lord Brougham once said that In no wa
could country be more rapidly ruined thu
| by taking from II the money in taxes and fai
Ing to promptly pay 1t out. But this admins
| tration seems never to have consulted any
to have learned Its aXioms even.
The REPUBLICAN, does well to cry out again
this surplus. As Wesley said of slavery, "it
the sum of all villainies," and the profit
parent ofwrong.. Great God! ifthe people coul
| only see how II hurts them with what
whirlwind of wrath would they nssail the 81,
pidty and wickedness that permits this gre
wroDgl EDWARD DANIELS.
GuSsroN, FAIRFAX COUNTY, VA, March "a.